Steel
by rosemarried
Summary: Remus's transformation at Potter Mansion has gone awfully wrong. Now Mr. Potter and James are fighting side by side to save their lives and the lives of their friends. Written for Week One: Archery in Camp Potter II.


**AN: This is my first piece for Camp Potter II, and not to toot my own horn, but I think it came out rather well. This is for Week One: Archery. The mandatory prompt was, "Write about a father and his children,", and the optional prompt I chose was, "In retrospect, it might have been a bad idea.". **

* * *

James ran down the hallway as fast as he could, wand already in hand. Sirius and Peter ran on either side of him, their faces creased with worry and fear. The blasts and shouting and growling got louder as they approached, James desperately weaving through the maze of the Potter mansion, trying to find where the sounds were coming from. Sirius had always been better with maps, and Peter had an uncanny sense of direction, but neither of them knew the mansion well, and certainly not well enough to help him figure out where to go.

Finally, a few wrong turns later, all three boys breathing heavy and wiping sweat off their foreheads, found where the battle was being raged. James recognized the shouts of a few of his father's Ministry friends, and the enraged and pained howls of his friend. His blood went cold and he gave a fearful look over to his friends, who looked just as scared and unsure as he was. The enchantments hadn't been strong enough. Moony had gotten out. They couldn't transform, not with all these Ministry professionals around. Would he recognize them in their human forms, or would the wolf try to tear them apart like it was all the others?

They couldn't just sit here and think about it, James realized. That wouldn't be any help to anyone. He put on a brave face, and nodded towards the turn in the hallway. They were close enough now that surely Moony could smell them. Sirius cocked an eyebrow, but James shook his head, reaffirming his decision that they couldn't use their animal forms. He hesitated, and then held up his hand, palm facing down, and shook it slightly. Maybe, if things went south, they'd have to risk it. James checked his watch. They just had to hold Moony off for a couple more hours, until the moon set.

All at once, they burst around the corner, and Harold Potter's wild but tired eyes met there's for a split second. James ran up to his father and together they hit Moony with two stunning spells, followed directly by two from Sirius and Peter just behind him. The force of the 4 spells was strong enough to keep Moony down for a minute. Harold breathed hard.

"What on earth are you three doing here?!" he asked, trying to shout but too tired and weak. "I thought I told you that under no circumstances were you to try and-"

"Dad, we can help!" James urged, keeping his eyes and wand trained on the werewolf. "We're his pack, he might be calmed a little with us around."

Harold shook his head. "He'll try to eat you all the same." he said harshly. "He doesn't know who you are."

"He does." James said firmly. He didn't know, of course, but he had to believe it. "It'll help, even just a little."

Moony stirred and they all jumped back to attention. He lifted his head groggily and stared around, momentarily confused. "And when you attack him? Won't that break this trust thing?"

"Not if Sirius allows it." Harold looked down at him, confused. "Sirius is the alpha. He can get Moony to do things we can't."

"Why Sirius? Thought the werewolf would insist on being alpha." Moony picked himself up off the ground and shook his head once more. He bared his teeth and growled at all of them.

James didn't move, not even when the werewolf bared his teeth at him. "We thought it would be safer that way. Careful, he can smell fear." He told him as Moony turned his gaze on Harold.

"Literally." Peter put in helpfully, his voice coming out in a high pitched squeak. Instantly, Moony's ears pricked up and he spun to face Peter. He growled triumphantly and took a step forward. And color left in Pete's face instantly drained away and he nearly fell over trying to scramble backwards. Sirius stepped in front of the boy and pointed his wand at the wolf.

Magic crackled at the end of his wand, and Moony hesitated, but only for a moment. He took another step forward. "Get back." Sirius said firmly, but the wolf ignored him. "Get back!" he commanded again, and a spark shot from the tip of his wand and hit Moony in the nose. He shook his face and hesitated again, but took another step, growling louder.

"I SAID GET BACK!" Sirius shouted at him, fury in his face. A wordless _depulso _flew from his wand and Moony slammed into the back wall with a force James didn't know he was capable of, not even with a spoken spell. He stared at his friend in amazement for a moment before remembering the task at hand.

This time, there was no hesitation from the older members. Moony had barely been put down by that, despite the power behind the spell. He was already trying to get back to his feet. "Contentum on 3!" shouted Neil Anderson. James readied his wand. He'd never learned the spell, but he'd read about it and knew the theory. Harold raised an eyebrow at his son, who nodded. He was certain he could do it. Sirius raised his wand as well, but Peter left his arm down, a helpless look coming over his face. He'd always been insecure about not having as much magic as his friends.

"1, 2, 3!" Neil counted down, and they all cast the spell. James's and Sirius's were noticeably weaker than the others, but he felt better just knowing that had he not shown up, perhaps the other spells wouldn't have been strong enough or they would not have gotten the chance to cast it. A large, silvery bubble surrounded him. Moony found his center of balance and threw himself at it, snarling. They all held their breath. The wolf bounced harmlessly off and they let out a sigh of relief. He tried a few more times, but eventually gave up and lay down, panting and whining.

Sirius tucked his wand into his robes and approached cautiously. The adults stiffened, but James and Peter relaxed. Sirius was closest to him and knew him best; if he thought it was safe, than they trusted that. He crouched down next to the bubble, and the wolf growled half-heartedly at first, but it tapered off to a low whine. "He's bleeding." Sirius murmured.

"It's not too bad. He'll be okay, and Madam Pomfrey has been contacted." Harold said, leaning against the wall. Sirius pressed a hand to the outside of the bubble, and Moony rested his head on the other side.

Any movement from the Auror's caused the wolf to snarl again. They watched him apprehensively as they edged around the corner they had stuck him in. "We should put something else up." said one Auror James didn't know. Her hair was pulled up into a tight bun and she wore jean shorts and a shirt advertising a band he'd never heard of. She was the only one who didn't look completely beat. James wondered how long they'd been fighting before they came; they had discovered a silencing charm and some sort of complicated locking charm on their room. They could have been going the whole night and they wouldn't have known before they managed to break the charms. "Walls or something." the Auror continued.

The Marauders shook their head vehemently. "He'll hurt himself more." James explained. He was currently in the process of attempting to gnaw off his right paw. Sirius was becoming more and more distressed as the wolf became more and more anxious, pacing and occasionally throwing himself at the spell that kept him in the corner of James's basement.

"How would you know that, kid?" The Auror narrowed her eyes at him. James's stared back, his eyes hard and unyielding.

"I'm one of his best friends." He said frostily. "When he wakes up, I'm almost always there with him. We all are. We see what he does to himself, and he tells us whatever he remembers. I know a lot more about werewolves than you lady."

She didn't seem affected by James's look or tone, both of which could make much more powerful people than her run with their tails between their legs. "I'm sure." She said, her sarcasm obvious. "Werewolves don't have friends, kid. All he sees you as is a potential meal."

James took a step forward, but Harold put out his arm and held him back. "That's enough." He said sternly to his son.

"But Dad-"

"I said enough." James opened his mouth to fight, but thought better of it and closed it, glaring at the woman. "James and I will stay here on guard. The rest of you should go sit down and relax, get a coffee. It could be a long night yet." They all seemed reluctant to go. Neil and Peter got up to do as they were told, and Moony stopped his pacing to growl and throw himself at the two moving figures. His actions inspired the rest to leave rather quickly, all except Sirius. He had to be practically pried from his side and barred from the hallway.

When they were alone, James tried walking up to the werewolf and resuming Sirius's job of murmuring to him and trying to keep him calm, but he was only becoming more agitated, clawing at himself and at the magical walls surrounding him. Eventually James couldn't watch anymore and had to turn around, even though he knew that if Remus remembered that he would be highly embarrassed. He was so sensitive to how they perceived the wolf.

"Come sit next to me." Harold had taken a spot just around the corner, and he patted the spot next to him. James did as he was told and immediately when he was out of sight, the growling stopped. Moony continued to make whining sounds and pained howls when he hurt himself, but at least he seemed a little calmer now. James grimaced as another bark that sounded almost like a sob escaped from the wolf. He wanted nothing more than to change into Prongs and charge into that bubble and comfort his friend, but he knew he couldn't. It would ruin everything.

Harold said nothing for a minute or two, then suddenly, "Why did you befriend Remus Lupin?" His voice sounded tired, but not in the disapproving way. He sounded as though he was about to fall asleep.

"I don't know…" James said slowly, thinking about it. "We didn't at first. He was so nervous and shy all the time. He was a bit mental, really. We teased him a lot." He blushed, and shot his father a sideways glance, but he didn't seem to be mind. After a moment of silence, he waved him on. "When we did, we found out he was really smart and very useful for pranking. And then when we found out about the wolf…" He tried to recall his memories from that time, of what he had thought and felt toward Remus.

"Did you hate him?" His father asked quietly.

James shook his head. "No, I…" He shrugged. "I just sort of accepted it. It was one of those things where somewhere in your mind, you knew all along. And then when you find out for certain, you're not really all that surprised because you dealt with it all a long time ago. You just didn't realize that's what you were doing."

Harold was quiet for a while. James assumed he had fallen asleep. He peeked around the corner and quickly shuffled back to his seat, thanking any and all deities that Madam Pomfrey would be here to tend to his injuries.

"You're a much better man than I am, son." Harold said quietly after a few minutes more, making him jump.

"I… what? Why would you say that?" James asked, bewildered. "You're a top ranking Auror, you're really successful, you put up with me." He ticked off on his finger each reason why his father was a great person.

Harold shook his head. "None of that matters." He told his son, his voice taking on a sharper edge. "Most of our money comes from what I inherited from your grandfather, and you're not that hard to put up with, whatever your mother might mutter under her breath." James's mother, Amanda was not known for her patience with her son and was prone to outbursts of threatening muttering. "Remember when I first found out about Remus?"

James remembered. His father had been the subject of some criticism when the day after he began wearing an old silver cross everywhere. Remus hadn't wanted to be anywhere near him after that. That had been last year, though. The two had made up since then, and he'd even been the one to suggest that they try having his transformation here. They had a reinforced basement, and the wards around the house would assure he wouldn't be able to leave the property. His parents had been reluctant to let their son leave, but eventually they had to admit that it was better than what they could give him at home. They decided it was worth a try. .

His father sat up straight now, taking his weight off of the wall behind him. "I didn't even want to let him into this house when I found out what he was, but I allowed it because you seemed so sure of him. To be honest, I was expecting him to break your heart. I was convinced that he would do... something." Harold seemed to have trouble meeting James's eyes as he confessed these things.

"Something?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what. He was such a meek child, but I said to myself, 'This is a dark creature, Harold, and he's going to hurt your family if you even give him half a chance.'" He gave a sort of half laugh. "In retrospect, it might have been a bad idea, judging him like that. I'm an old man, James, set in my ways." He looked up at him now, his eyes sad. "Promise me you won't be like me, son."

James blinked. "What?"

"Promise me that when you're grown and have children of your own you'll trust them more than I trusted you." He insisted. He was sitting up now, and something in those old, weary eyes struck James. He searched his eyes, looking for more of an explanation, but to what he didn't know. Finally, he nodded.

"Yeah, 'course, Dad. 'Course I will." Harold smiled slightly and leaned back against the wall. There was silence for another minute.

James cleared his throat. "Why don't you get some rest, Dad? I'll call out Sirius and he can finish your watch. I reckon we can even calm Moony down." The howling coming from the wolf had grown increasingly louder and more pained. James was desperate to do something to stop him.

Harold hesitated, obviously reluctant to leave two teenage boys alone to guard a very angry and very scared werewolf. "We can handle it." James assured him. "If he manages to break out, he won't attack right away because we're pack. It'll confuse him. That'll give the other members time to get in and help." He'd no idea if this was accurate, but if it got Harold to leave and go get the sleep he so obviously needed, he didn't care that he was lying.

After a minute, he agreed and pulled himself up off the ground, walking slowly and gingerly away. It looked as though he'd hurt his right ankle, but Madam Pomfrey would be able to take care of that. James's head fell back and he stared up at the ceiling, waiting for his best friend to come join him. Having a distressed Sirius to comfort would be a good distraction from thinking about the odd conversation he'd just had.

James's greatest fear at this very moment was not the dark creature down the hall. It was not that, should he break out of his _contentum_, he could be killed with a swipe of the paw. He was afraid of letting his father down. He thought he wouldn't be a good enough dad to his children, not anywhere near as good as his had been. He knew it was stupid, especially because his friend was down the hall trying to rip himself apart. Right now, he should be more afraid of losing him tonight than anything else, but he couldn't help himself. Harold had just looked so desperate, so ashamed of himself, and he couldn't bear the thought that one day, that might be him looking at his own son. He watched the corner that he had disappeared around and waited desperately for his distraction to come. Anything to stop feeling the black hole that was opening in his chest.


End file.
